The Golden Years
It's the Season for Snorkeling
Article by Joel Simon

"Snorkeling begins at 70!" These are not my words. They belong to Barbara Gillot, an energetic woman from Salinas, California, who I was privileged to recently introduce to the wonders of the undersea world. Barbara is not alone. Many of her contemporaries share her enthusiasm for snorkeling both as a recreational physical activity and as an exhilarating firsthand exploration of the aquatic wilderness.

Today’s seniors are more active than ever before -- both physically and mentally. However, getting older, with its implication of getting wiser, usually suggests making some concessions in the realm of sports. Happily, age has distinct advantages in the world of snorkeling.

While snorkeling is a recreation well suited to mature minds and bodies, it’s really an activity for all ages. The marine environment is appealing on a multitude of levels ranging from appreciation of playful curious fish, to detailed examination of species diversity. The engaging colors, dynamics, and textures of the coral reef fascinate both children and adults. Snorkeling is perfectly suited to families, where children, parents, and grandparents can share the experience.

Learning to snorkel is a skill anyone comfortable in the water can easily master, regardless of age. After several days snorkeling, Sue Hess, a 60-something bundle of energy, exclaimed: "I feel ten years younger, and 20 years braver!" And after a successful first day of a week-long snorkeling program, New York City resident Joe Richards, nearly 75, commented with sudden realization: "It seems as though I’ve just scheduled half my vacation underwater!"

Although many people adapt easily to the activity, most novices will benefit from a few useful hints. Snorkeling is a training. And as with any training, you improve with practice. Don’t worry if things feel a bit awkward in the beginning. The equipment, while simple, alters habits formed over years on land. Many people customarily breath through their nose. With a mask and snorkel, you become a mouth breather. When immersed in water, your normal upright orientation is flipped to horizontal. Plus, anything not attached to the bottom, snorkelers and fish included, is influenced by surge or current. Solid land is replaced by fluid, and it all moves! Compound these elements with the unfamiliar surroundings or the concern of a possible encounter with strange-looking creatures, and it’s no wonder there may be a few tenuous moments in the beginning.

Individual aptitude for snorkeling varies. In addition to learning the fit and use of equipment, many people must cope with more complex issues: long-term fear of the water, feelings of claustrophobia, or even lack of swimming ability. Becoming comfortable in the water often involves as much psychology as skill development. Almost anyone who truly wants to see the ocean's habitat through a face mask can do it with the help of a patient instructor -- someone who will encourage developing self-confidence and trust in the ocean at the snorkeler's own pace.

Regardless of age, the recipe for successful snorkeling requires three essential ingredients: equipment, education, and attitude. Simply put, the best attitude is: relax and enjoy. Both safety and pleasure increase when the snorkeler feels comfortable and confident in the water.

The road to relaxed snorkeling is much smoother when you have appropriate equipment and have learned its proper use. The greatest assurance for enjoyable snorkeling is a properly fitting mask. Masks come in as many sizes and shapes as faces, so be sure to select one that matches yours. Fortunately, corrected vision masks are also easily available. Some optics companies will grind oversize lenses to your exact prescription and bond them into the mask of your choice. Other masks are designed to accommodate interchangeable corrective lenses and bifocal corrections.

On a recent snorkeling program in Fiji, Suzie Harding, a delightful woman in her 70’s came to me complaining of a leaky mask. It had fit perfectly in the store, she said. We examined the situation. Indeed the mask seemed to fit perfectly. She put in the snorkel and swam away. In a few minutes she was back, her mask again full of water. She explained that at first it was OK, then she saw a lovely emperor angelfish, and it filled up almost immediately. As we hung on the edge of the open skiff, I asked her to show me exactly what happened. As she visualized the fish, I immediately saw the problem. I’ve termed it: Dynamic facial topography. When she smiled, her cheeks bunched up, creating large gaps along the mask’s bottom edge. Hence, the more she enjoyed herself, the more miserable she became! We discussed the problem -- she agreed not to smile, and had a great time.

Another handy piece of equipment are fins. While they can facilitate fast swimming, their greatest asset is increased efficiency. Used gently, they let you glide nearly effortlessly along the surface, keeping your body in a relaxed horizontal position. Not only does this help keep your snorkel above water, it also keeps your face looking down comfortably.

Whereas energetic young whippers usually dash off, alarming both fish and friends, older (and wiser) snorkelers are in a prime time of life to just relax and enjoy. Fish enjoy this too! Seventy-three year old Shirley Doyle shares her insight with the comment: "So soon old, so late smart! I can’t believe all the time and energy I wasted on aggressive snorkeling in my youth!" To best appreciate life on the reef, find an interesting area, a shallow coral head for example, and float quietly in one place. Many reef creatures rely on cryptic coloration for survival and are only noticed upon careful observation. By remaining still, small fish and other shy vulnerable creatures grow accustomed to your presence, realize you are not a link in their food chain, and come out of hiding to resume their normal routine.

With fins, propulsion is by easy, gentle, kicking. You rarely need to use your arms--let them rest comfortably by your side or float one in front of your head to act as a bumper. Gently lead your fins up and down, allowing the pressure to flex your joints--keep your knees and ankles loose. This lets your muscles expand and contract, promotes muscular respiration, diminishes lactic acid buildup, and makes your legs far less susceptible to cramps. Used gently, fins can help encourage flexibility in aging joints, and seem to actually benefit hip and knee replacements. Ron Fleck, a recipient of two new knees, expressed his concern by saying: "Using fins is so easy, I don’t know how I’m ever gonna’ walk on solid ground again!" Fins are beneficial, some would say mandatory, but as with all elements of snorkeling, use them within your own levels of comfort. If snorkeling is more enjoyable for you without fins for the time being, that’s fine.

The marine environment is wonderfully supportive of both body and mind. Although some folks feel more secure wearing a lightweight inflatable vest or other buoyancy aid, most mature snorkelers float without effort in salty tropical seas. And although age may diminish raw strength, it often adds "insulation". In the sea, this is a distinct advantage. While thermal tolerance is obviously dependent on the individual, the better insulated you are, the easier it is to stay warm and comfortable. In its most elemental form, snorkeling is metabolic exercise. Simply staying warm uses energy. After all, calories are just units of heat. I usually encourage snorkelers to invest in their future by eating now!

Older skin (especially the backs of knees, waist, shoulders, and neck) can be especially sensitive to the equatorial sun found in many tropical locations. While in the water, almost any kind of clothing will protect, from pajamas to today’s colorful form-fitting Lycra suits. Covering your body while snorkeling not only prevents needless, painful, and possibly hazardous sunburn, it also shields against occasional stinging zooplankton, and diminishes abrasion from chance encounters with coral or piers. Incidentally, even small scrapes in the tropics, especially coral cuts, can become easily infected. Be sure to clean all cuts very thoroughly and apply a little antibiotic cream to help them heal more quickly.

Men whose hair might be running a little thin should remember that scalps are also sensitive to sunburn. Either sunscreen or a hat is a perfect remedy. I remember one gentleman, when warned about caring for his head, borrowed a lovely loose-weave palm leaf hat from his wife that looked delightful in the water. The next day, his hairless head looked equally delightful, with the hat pattern perfectly reversed in sunburn red!

When you think you're ready to plunge in, take a moment to check for any jewelry that could be inadvertently donated to Neptune’s coffers, non-water proof watches, or other "land-based" items. I recall on one occasion as people were descending from boat to water, we heard an unusual high-pitched squealing from the sea. A woman, looking towards her floating husband, realized the sound was emanating from his double hearing aids that he’d forgotten to remove. Since they were no longer functioning properly, even her loudest calls went unheard. It was finally sign language that communicated the message. After the devices made a full recovery, he came up to me and with a perfectly straight face, said what he enjoyed most about snorkeling was the delightful silence of the underwater world.

Probably the most important responsibility while snorkeling is to listen to and abide by your personal limitations. These change daily depending on water temperature, surge or current conditions, how much sleep you may have had the night before, your health status, or how much snorkeling you’ve recently done. Individually, each of us knows best what our limitations are at any given time, and for the benefit of ourselves and our companions, we must be responsive to those messages.

While many people measure snorkeling skills by how long they can stay in the water, how fast they can kick, how deep they can freedive or how long they can stay beneath the surface, the real measure of skill is the ability to remain relaxed. Snorkeling is participation in the aquatic wilderness. Developing and maintaining a calm, easy demeanor in the water is your best key to unlocking the treasure chest of fascinating mysteries the underwater world contains. I'm convinced most older snorkelers will agree with the newly discovered understanding of Natalia Brown, a 70+ woman from Maryland. "Snorkeling is for all ages, but the older the better to appreciate the continuity of life above and below the water, and the connectedness of everything."

For refreshing the mind, for rejuvenating the body, for exercise without effort snorkeling works -- regardless of age.